Pashmina
by crystalwish
Summary: Pashmina is lonely. When Penelope falls into the river and Jingle saves her, Pashmina is grateful. She soon realizes that she is not the only one who is alone
1. Chap 1

I don't own Hamtaro

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Pashmina sat at the table working on her painting. It was beautiful, with lots of colour and life. 

"Hey, you guys, what do you think of my painting?" she asked the boys in the corner.

"It's lovely, Pashmina, my love. But nothing compares to your beauty" Dexter said, not even bothering to glance at the painting Pashmina had been working on for the last week. 

"Hey, what are you playing at, with all that lovey-dovey stuff? Huh! Huh!" Howdy came over and Stan, Dexter and Howdy started fighting. Pashmina sighed. Their attention was nice but they didn't really love her, they just liked having someone to fight over. She was really lonely, Penelope, Bijou and Sandy were great friends but they didn't totally understand her. To make matters worse, lately everyone had been busy with their own lives, because winter was coming and they had to prepare. Pashmina was always on top of things and had prepared for winter months ago, and now she was lonely. Sometimes she wished the others could be as responsible as she was so that she could have someone to talk to, instead of watching everyone run around in the freezing cold, regretting they hadn't prepared sooner.

She wandered outside and watched as Stucky, Cappy and Penelope played tag. They were young enough that when everyone else was busy, they could play. Penelope was Pashmina's life. Most of her time was devoted to her little sister. As the little hamsters laughed and played, Pashmina's eyes drifted to the sky. It was totally clear today. Pashmina noticed beauty in everything, which was something else that set her apart from the other hamsters at the club house. She returned to watching the kids play.

Later, Pashmina noticed Penelope and the other hadn't come in. She went out to get them. When she got to the clearing where they were playing, earlier, she was surprised to see they weren't there. 

"They probably wandered off. Nothing to worry about." Pashmina thought to herself. 

Pashmina was getting worried. She had been searching for over an hour with no luck. It was getting really cold and the sky was turning black with storm clouds. "Maybe they went back to the club house already." she thought hopefully as she turned back. 

Penelope awoke with her head pounding. She was inside a cave with Stucky and Cappy. Outside the rain was pouring. "How did we get here?" she thought. Then she remembered. They had been playing in the trees, when the branch they were on gave way. They had plummeted down into the creek. Everything had gone black after that. "Well, you're awake, little one. I was afraid you weren't going to make it for a while there." Penelope looked up to see a hamster with a guitar. " Okwee?" she asked weakly. "I don't know what you said, but don't worry about anything. Hey, aren't you one of Hamlet's friends? Or is it Ham-and-eggs?" Penelope looked at him. "Oh" she thought, "this is Hamtaro's friend who can never remember his name." Penelope tried to sit up, but a sharp pain soared through her body. She looked down at her middle to a large bandage wrapped around it. There was blood soaking through. "You had better lay down, little friend of Hamflower. That wound needs time to heal. Don't worry, tomorrow, I'll take the three of you back to your friends. 

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Anybody with any suggestions for things to happen, please review!


	2. chap2

I don't own Hamtaro

Thanks to anybody who reviewed. *o* You like me, you really like me!

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Pashmina returned to the club house. "Hey, Bijou. Has my sister come back yet?"

"Your sister? No, I haven't seen her all day, Pashmina"

"I saw her earlier, playing with Cappy and Stucky in the trees" Panda volunteered, "but I haven't seen any of them for hours."

Pashmina was worried. The rain was pouring outside and the wind was picking up. She had asked everyone in the clubhouse if they had seen any of the three kids but with no luck "Maybe they found a cave or something and decided to wait for the storm to end." Boss said, hopefully

"Maybe" Pashmina replied miserably as she went to wait at the door. The other hamsters watched her leave the room. "Poor Pashmina." Bijou said.

In the cave, Penelope was staring out into the rain. "It doesn't look like it's going to let up soon, does it?" Jingle asked the little hamster. "I hope your friends will be okay. The one with the hat was hurt pretty badly when I found you three." Penelope listened to the song he was playing on his guitar. "Pashmina would like this song." she thought, "I bet she's looking for me right now. Hey, I bet she would really like Jingle."

"Would you like something to eat, Little Hamster? There's plenty here."

Penelope rolled over, painfully and gratefully accepted the seeds and water Jingle gave her. Then sleep claimed her.

In the morning after the rain stopped, Jingle picked up Stucky, who was still unconscious and the three began to walk down to the creek. Penelope looked around at the forest. She didn't recognize anything. "I don't think we're anywhere near the clubhouse" she thought nervously. Jingle led the two little hamsters down to a creek. Penelope noticed the creek was much wider than the one near the club house. Jingle began walking right beside it. "Okwee?" Penelope asked.

"If we follow this creek through the town, we should eventually get to the place you three fell in." Jingle replied as he strummed his guitar. Penelope walked beside Cappy, who had a large bandage wrapped around his head. 

At about noon, Stucky woke up. "Where's my bottle cap?" (I'm calling it a bottle cap because I don't know what it is he rolls around in.) 

"You must have lost it in the creek, Stucky." Cappy said to him as he desperately searched for it, "I lost my pot and Penelope lost her yellow thing" Stucky looked really sad. "As the water flows away so does time. And with it goes material belongings." Jingle hummed from ahead of them. "I know that it's just a bottle cap but it means a lot to me." Stucky said sadly as he followed behind the others.

At the club house, the other hamsters had been searching all day for the Penelope, Cappy and Stucky. "Where could they be? We've been searching all morning." Boss said. In the bushes by the creek, Bijou noticed something. She reached out to grab it but tripped over a loose tree root. "Ow." she said as she fell to the ground. "May I help you, Bijou?" Dexter said as he offered her his hand. "Merci, Dexter. Thank you." 

"It is no problem, Bijou." he said as he smiled at her, "No problem at all. Why are you in here anyway?" 

"Oh, I found this." she replied as she showed him a piece of yellow cloth. "That's a piece of Penelope's yellow hat thing!" Dexter said, "We had better show this to Boss!"

"So you found this right beside the creek, Bijou?" Boss asked while he looked the cloth over. "Oui, right beside it." 

"Hey, we found them! Or Jingle did. But we found Jingle!" Oxnard and Pepper called.

"Penelope." Pashmina called as she ran to hug her sister, "You're safe!"

Pashmina looked up as Jingle turned to walk away. "Wait, you saved my sister. Won't you stay here for a while?" 

Jingle turned to look at her.

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Anyone with any suggestions for things to happen, please tell me. What do you think should happen? Should Jingle stay or will he say no? Please tell me!  



	3. chap 3

Big thanks to everyone who reviewed! Please keep sending me your ideas. ^_^

"Wish I could but the wind is blowing me in a different direction. I'm a wandering ham who likes to eat Spam by the dam." he said as he turned to leave again. 

"What exactly does Spam have to do with anything?" Cappy whispered to Stucky.

"I have no idea."

"Please, I have to repay you for saving my sister. I wish you would stay with here with us, at least for a few days." Pashmina begged as she looked at him. 

"I can't stay." he said as he began to leave. Penelope noticed that Jingle wasn't playing his guitar as he walked away. "He wants to stay at the clubhouse. I wonder why he's walking away." she thought to herself. Then she ran up and grabbed the edge of his guitar. "Okweee." she said to the startled hamster.

"You want me to stay?" he asked doubtfully. Penelope smiled and nodded. "I guess the wind is blowing me here then. But I only will stay until it changes again."

"Great, we'll make a bed for you in the main room." Bijou said with a smile.

He walked behind the group into the clubhouse. Penelope noticed he still wasn't playing his guitar. "He's still sad. I wonder why." 

Pashmina stayed outside and gathered three bags of seeds and other various things to eat. Then she went inside. "I hope he likes my cooking because I don't know how else to thank him." 

As her sister was cooking, Penelope watched her from the corner where she was peeling seeds. The little hamster noticed that her sister never looked sad when she was doing something, but she never looked happy either. "I wish she would smile again." Penelope thought, "and be happy like she used to be."

Out in the main room, Bijou, Dexter, Cappy and Stucky were making Jingle's bed. "How come we have to help make his bed?" Stucky asked.

"You have to because Jingle saved your lives, not ours so you should be the ones to thank him, not us." Bijou replied, "Would you two please go get another blanket?" As Cappy and Stucky went to fetch the blanket, Dexter smiled at Bijou. "Bijou, do you have a…."

"A what?" Bijou asked looking up at him.

"This is stupid of me to ask but do you have a partner for the dance in a few days?" he asked, blushing.

"Non, no one has asked me. Are you… asking to be my date, Dexter?" 

"Yes, if you want. But if you would rather go with someone else, I understand."

"Dexter, I would love to go to the dance with you." she said as she smiled at him.

"Really? Oh that's wonderful. Thank you, Bijou." he stuttered as he blushed a deep red.

Jingle looked around the clubhouse. It had been a long time since he had been inside a building. It felt strange to be so near to other hamsters. He heard the hamster the other hamsters called "Boss" talking to Hamtary. At least that's what he thought his name was. "Hey, Hamtaro do you have a date for the dance, yet." 

"No, maybe I'll ask Bijou."

"What! I'm asking Bijou!" 

"I'm going with Pepper." the hamster named Oxnard said. 

"And I'm going with Sandy." the hamster named Maxwell said.

"Well, I'm going with this hot chick from the park on the other side of town." the hamster named Stan boasted, "and with the pretty ham from the golf course."

"You're actually going with two girls?" Maxwell asked staring at him, "Do they know that?" 

"Of course, why wouldn't they"

Jingle walked away from their chatter. He let his mind drift back to the only home he ever had. " Hey, freak, what are you doing here. This is our dance!" "Yeah, go away, we don't want you here." He still felt their cold eyes staring at him, their hatred. Why had they hated him? Even today he didn't know. Perhaps these hamsters were different, or maybe they weren't. Either way he wasn't going to get close enough to them to find out. 

Pashmina set the table. She had made it perfect. Everyone was going to have a feast tonight.. She hoped they liked it. Penelope walked out and helped to put the food on the table while Pashmina went to tell everyone supper was ready. 

After everyone was seated, Boss began his boring speech about being prepared for winter that he always gave every night for a week before the winter dance. Afterwards everyone dug in. Penelope looked across the table and noticed that neither Pashmina nor Jingle were eating very much. "Odd." she thought, "Oh well, this is really good!"

Later everyone started preparing for the winter dance. They all had their own jobs. Pashmina wandered into one of the brighter back tunnels to get away from the others. She sat down and began sewing the cheery blue, pink and purple decorations. After about an hour she stopped and sighed. The decorations seemed to depress her even more. "Why am I bothering?" she thought to herself as she looked at the pretty fabric in her paw, "No one is going to notice my decorations, anyway. And after the party, they are just going to get torn up and stepped on. I don't see why I should take all this time to make something that doesn't matter to anyone." 

Jingle was walking through the tunnels humming to himself. "No, that's not right." he mumbled to himself, "That doesn't sound right." He opened his eyes to see Pashmina sitting in the side tunnel staring a piece of pretty cloth. "That's really pretty. It's for your party, right?" he asked her. She looked up, surprised. "You like it?" she asked. "Yes, it's very pretty. It must have taken you a long time to find the cloth and sew it so perfectly together." he said as he prepared to continue down the hallway. "Yes, it did. Thank you for noticing." she said as she began packing it into a box. Jingle looked at the box beside her. It looked like one of the ones down in their storage room. "Why are you putting it in storage? You're not even totally done yet." Pashmina didn't look up as she continued to pack the box. "It doesn't matter. The others won't notice if I put it up or not. But why am I telling you that?" She lifted up the box and walked through the door and down the tunnel. "She's a very lonely soul." Jingle thought as he continued working on his song.

*Please send me any and all ideas you have. Please review or I won't update!*


	4. chap 4

It was the night of the big winter dance and everyone was excited. Pashmina had spent hours decorating the place where it was taking place and laying out the food just so. She was proud of her work even though she knew it would go unappreciated by the others. She had decided to put up her decorations after all and they looked spectacular, the dancing hall a vision of beauty. The band which she had hired even looked good, in their black and pink uniforms (of course).

The dance floor was a flurry of colour as the Ham Hams twirled and spun. Pashmina watched somewhat sadly as Bijou and Dexter danced so happily under the coloured lights. Penelope and Cappy were having the time of their lives, dressed in matching hats, Penelope in yellow and Cappy in green, of course.1 Hamtaro and Boss looked extremely depressed and soon after the dance began they started arguing with Howdy on the matter of who would dance with Pashmina.

After about 20 minutes, Pashmina grew disgusted with the argument and left. She was walking through the forest wishing someone had at least acknowledged the hard work she had put into the dance for them, other than Jingle. Jingle… She halted as she heard beautiful music in the distance. She slowly walked towards it getting farther and farther away from the dance. After a while she couldn't hear the band anymore and the sound of the beautiful music grew louder.

Deep into the forest, she came upon a huge rock on which Jingle sat playing his guitar and singing softly. "Jingle..? Why are you…here all alone?" She questioned awkwardly. He looked down at her from his perch and answered "Gatherings make me unhappy. However, why is someone as lovely as you so far away from the dance you organized and decorated yourself?

"Um, well, I dislike dances, especially when there isn't anyone who cares to dance with me. Howdy and the others see me as a thing to fight over, rather than a friend. Also, I don't feel like I belong. On nights like this, the peace and quiet is all I need." She said as she sat down on a small stone below the rock. "Jingle, why do gatherings make you unhappy?"

"When I was small, I lived with other hamsters in a group, much larger than this one. I was an orphan and the others treated me as if I wasn't human. They treated me as if I couldn't belong. I was alone. One morning, I couldn't take their cruelty any longer, so I left to find a place where I could be happy. I am beginning to believe that place doesn't exist." He explained as he stared up at the stars. Pashmina looked up at him and at the stars, listening to his song. 

"Jingle, why don't you stay here?" she said quietly.


End file.
